|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
03/23/2007
Sense of PlaceCrooked Tree exhibit moves to Traverse City
"September Wind" by Gregory D. Seman took third place in the exhibition "Sense of Place: Photographs from Northern Michigan Land Conservancies.” TRAVERSE CITY — Landscape photographer Greg Seman has championed northern Michigan's land conservancies for years, even joining the board of one and working on its projects. So when Petoskey's Crooked Tree Arts Center invited photographers to capture the unique beauty of conservancy lands for its 26th annual juried photography show, Seman knew right where to go. His moody black-and-white photograph shot at the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy's Antrim Creek Conservation Easement took third place in the exhibition "Sense of Place: Photographs from Northern Michigan Land Conservancies,” opening Sunday at the Dennos Museum Center. "This parcel actually was slated for development — a pretty significant one,” said Seman, who used to fish off its beaches. "It's a very unique parcel with over a mile on the shoreline and a creek that empties out into the lake.” Showcasing the exceptional land that is preserved for residents and visitors of northern Michigan was just one of the ideas behind the exhibition, said Gail Hosner, visual arts and education director at Crooked Tree Arts Center. "It yielded some fabulous images,” said Hosner, who organized the show in collaboration with Little Traverse Conservancy, Leelanau Conservancy, Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy, and the Headwaters Land Conservancy. "It really speaks of the area we live in and the beauty of the area.” Modeled after Crooked Tree's thematic juried fine arts shows, the exhibition also was designed to challenge photographers and to encourage them to discover places they never knew existed, she said. "It's nice when you take different types of photographers and take them out of their comfort zone. It gives them a chance to create some fresh work, to work outside the box,” she said. The show, which ran at Crooked Tree for three weeks before moving to the Dennos, was whittled down from more than 80 entries by Chicago-area juror Chris Walker. A native of rural Croswell, Walker has published his photography in newspapers and magazines ranging from The New York Times and The Chicago Tribune to New Mexico Wildlife Magazine and Scientific American. 
"Fall at Houdek” by Roger Craton of Harbor Springs took the first-place award. The exhibition includes 42 works by 33 photographers, including first-place winner Roger Craton of Harbor Springs ("Fall at Houdek”) and second-place winner Katie Colfer of Cross Village ("After Dark”). Formats include digital, color, sepia toned, ink jet photos, digital photos on silk, and montage. With its stark composition and dramatic sky, Seman's "September Wind” is reminiscent of a certain famous photographer's landscape work. Shot with a large format camera using a 5-10 minute exposure, it was produced the old-fashioned way — in the darkroom using the silver gelatin method. "It's quickly becoming a lost art,” said Seman, a CPA whose photography also has appeared in shows in Chicago, New York and Miami. Hosner calls Seman an "underappreciated” photographer and said his piece reflects the caliber of work in the show. "Anybody can buy a camera and go out there and shoot and produce photographs,” she said. "But it's the artist that can interpret the scene and create compositions and bring their own personal sense to what they see about them.” "Sense of Place: Photographs from Northern Michigan Land Conservancies” runs through June 3. Museum hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday; admission is $4 for adults and $2 for children. Several of the images also appear in this month's edition of Traverse Magazine.
|
|
